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Of the five government-funded service academies in the United States, the youngest is the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Established in 1954 with a first graduating class in 1959, I was a member of the 23rd class graduating on 27 June 1981. I served on active duty for more than 37 years—only two members of our class of nearly 1,000 served longer.
Our service academies have produced thousands of exceptional leaders that have served honorably throughout our society and worldwide in almost every role imaginable. Some have entered politics, of course, but only after leaving active military service. Throughout my time at “The Academy” (as we USAFA grads call our alma mater), we were taught to be outwardly apolitical and nonpartisan. We were encouraged to vote, but we were also taught quite clearly that partisan politics had no place in the active-duty workplace, be that in the field, at sea, in space, or in the Pentagon. We took an oath to the Constitution, not to a leader. I proudly served from Carter through Trump—four Republicans, three Democrats.
I’ve written here before about my many concerns involving the current administration’s efforts to destroy this nonpartisanship. I won’t belabor those points beyond saying that they have only accelerated their efforts and widened the cracks in what I once thought was an impenetrable wall.
On the “local level” for USAFA, those cracks became a chasm this week with two distinct events. First, the inaugural meeting of a cadet chapter of Turning Point USA was held—the distinctly political, partisan, and Christian Nationalist organization established by Charlie Kirk. Unlike civilian universities that rightfully can host TPUSA or Your Republican or College Democrat or Democratic Socialists of America clubs, no such club like this has ever existed at USAFA.
We were taught that we COULD participate in politics as cadets and officers, but only when we were off-duty and in a manner that did not or could not be interpreted as official military endorsement of a political position. So, cadets can attend a weekend or evening meeting downtown of a Young Republicans’ Club meeting or even a TPUSA meeting at another college. But they can only do so in civilian clothes and when they were off duty. All members of the military can also attend political rallies, but the same rules apply. The Air Force has an instruction that covers this behavior, as do all of the services, entitled Air Force Instruction 1-1. It’s so important that it’s THE first instruction.
The problem with a cadet TPUSA chapter is that the meetings are held on-base at the Academy. Cadets are officially off-duty when they attend and most cadets can attend in civilian clothes (except for freshmen who must always wear their uniforms), but they are still on-base and immersed in a hierarchical environment steeped in rank structure and susceptible to coercion. Lower ranking cadets may think they NEED to attend meetings attended by their cadet superiors as well as any officers or staff that may be there. The entire situation can then snowball into their active-duty service after graduation if they’ve been trained to think that it’s okay to coerce others to attend their political events.
USAFA has already seen this happen with religious coercion and evangelism and that’s one of the primary reasons that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation was founded and exists to this day—to remove the specter of religious bias from our military services. We can’t allow the same threat to flourish in the name of partisan politics for any party.
Just as troubling as TPUSA and not unrelated, this week the USAFA Association of Graduates (AOG) announced a board of directors meeting at which one board member, Lt Gen (USAF, Retired) Rod Bishop, would propose two resolutions for approval: one granting honorary AOG membership to Charlie Kirk; and another one recommending Kirk for an honorary degree bequeathed by USAFA.
The second recommendation, intended to be a posthumous honor to a college drop-out, is ridiculous on its face. First, as far as I know, and to the best of my internet and AI search capabilities using Google, the US Air Force Academy has never granted an honorary degree to anyone. Secondly, the AOG Board of Directors has no power to grant an honorary degree. In response to a press inquiry on the subject the AOG stated: “Regarding the honorary degree motion, candidly, that is not something the AOG can award. However, honorary membership is something the AOG Board of Directors can do as part of the alumni association’s bylaws.”
According to those bylaws, the Board can grant honorary membership status, but such a decision requires a four-fifths majority of the board to approve it (13 of 16 board members) AND there can be no more than 25 living designees at any one time. Of course, Charlie wouldn’t count against that number, but there are only 19 as of today. Only 48 have been chosen for this honor in USAFA history. With the exception of a few national figures that are Air Force legends (Jimmy Doolittle, Barry Goldwater, A.P. Clark) most were long-serving staff members, former superintendents, coaches (Fisher DeBerry), and other supporters. I can think of very few that served less than 20 years at the Academy, and some served 50 or more.
I voted to select a few of these amazing people while I was an elected member of the AOG board (2004-2006). The decisions were very difficult, and I can easily think of 10 wonderful people that are not included on this list, but should be. It was intended to also honor LIVING recipients. I know of one USAFA coach of more than 30 years that would’ve been unanimously selected upon retirement, but when he passed away, tragically, while still in the job, he was no longer considered.
Charlie Kirk was selected by President Donald Trump to serve on the USAFA Board of Visitors—an external board whose job it is to review the overall Academy program and report their findings to Congress. They meet twice per year. Mr. Kirk attended ONE of those meetings before his horrific death. I’m unaware of any previous visits by him to USAFA or even any mention by him of the service academies besides the fact that he was rejected by the US Military Academy (Army-West Point) out of high school. At times, he has sarcastically claimed that a less qualified person of a different race and gender was chosen instead of him.
He has no long record of service to USAFA. What he does have is long record of racist and sexist statements, though. These are well-documented on thousands of sites and not worth rehashing. Probably the most galling to USAFA graduates, though, are his comments about seeing a black pilot in the cockpit of an airliner. “If I see a Black pilot, I’m gonna be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’”
That’s a funny statement coming from someone who had no qualifications to be a member of the USAFA Board of Visitors—overseeing an institution that has probably produced more qualified pilots, of all races, than any other school in the nation. His comments about women, and other minorities, Muslims, and the LGBTQ+ communities are just as bad—and well-documented.
The response to the proposal to honor Kirk has been met head-on by thousands of graduates. When news came out of the AOG Board Meeting, my phone, email, and social media were swamped. We’ve since organized a pressure campaign of conscience focused on the AOG CEO, Mark Hille, and every member of the Board of Directors. The news of the Friday, 17 October vote on the subject has hit the press with Militarytimes.com first to publish a story. The Colorado Springs Gazette has done the same.
Most graduates writing to protest the vote on Kirk have pledged to withhold any future support for the AOG or the Academy if it passes. One graduate sent the following:
“Martin Luther King Jr once said, ‘Our Lives begin to end the day we remain silent about things that matter.’ As a lifetime AOG member, the proposal to make Charlie Kirk an Honorary AOG member and grant him an honorary USAFA degree is appalling and infuriating. I don’t have the luxury of being silent. Collectively, we can abhor how Kirk died, but we should not celebrate the life of an unapologetic racist who dedicated his life to oppressing people of color and sowing the seeds of hatred. This is the ultimate slap in the face for people of color. Celebrating the life of a racist is inconsistent with developing leaders of character and establishing a culture of dignity & respect (tolerance). If these proposals get approved, this will leave an irreparable stain on our beloved USAFA, and I will NOT support the AOG or USAFA in any way in the future.”
The United States Air Force Academy’s Association of Graduates MUST reject these proposals. Moreover, the Academy’s military leadership MUST reassert the principle of non-partisanship among the cadets, faculty, and staff—just as all senior military leaders must do in the face of unprecedented pressure from the Trump Administration to mold the military into the President’s own praetorian guard.
Our commitment to supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States of America is sacred to all of us that have taken the oath. In these fateful times, we simply cannot shrink from that oath. We cannot remain silent. We cannot allow the forces of authoritarianism and fascism to change our character or compromise our integrity. To do so would be to betray the American people that we have pledged to serve.
MRFF Advisory Board Member, Brig. Gen. USAF Retired Marty France, is an Engineer, educator, photographer, world traveler, bicyclist, hiker, husband, Pop-Pop, orbital warfare specialist, independent (former Libertarian/Republican)
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